CFPs: France-Japan Collaborative Research in Cancer Biology Program

This joint initiative aims at delivering joint research funding for internationally competitive and innovative collaborative projects between researchers from Japan and France to promote transnational expertise synergy and mutualization. AMED will support this activity under the ASPIRE (Adopting Sustainable Partnerships for Innovative Research Ecosystem) fund.

These collaborative research projects will also allow the establishment and maintenance of sustainable partnerships between France and Japan, by supporting researcher’s mobility between the 2 countries. In fact, it is required that 33% of the total requested funding should be used for the purpose of building and expanding networks with the partner country and promoting mobility.

Objectives

• The objectives of the INCa-AMED joint funding call are to:
  • Support projects that are original in their subject and approaches, ambitious and feasible in their objectives;
  • Support collaborative projects within new or pre-existing partnerships
  • to foster sustainable research links between France and Japan;
  • Promote exchange of scientists, knowledge and methodology between the 2 countries;
  • Allow mutualization/access to facilities, resources and equipment available in the 2 countries;
  • Foster cross-disciplinary research associating partner teams from other scientific fields to biomedical teams;
  • Stimulate research on emerging and innovative topics to open new perspectives in oncology.

Scope

• This AMED-INCa joined call is open to all areas of basic research and scientific fields involved in the investigation of Cancer biology. It aims at supporting cutting edge research projects that address challenges in cancer biology with the goal of expanding the understanding and knowledge of cancer biological mechanisms.
• Multi-disciplinary projects, which have contributions from fields other than biology, are encouraged. The biology part of the project must be significant and relevant.

Funding Information

• This joint call for proposals aims at funding up to 3 Japan-France collaborative projects. INCa will support the French components of the projects for up to 2 million euros and AMED will support up to 345 million JPY direct cost for five (5) years (capped maximum value of 115 million JPY per project).
• Duration: The duration of the projects should be of five (5) years with no possible extension of funding or duration.

Eligibility Criteria

• Teams’ eligibility
  • The research project and the application are co-developed by a research consortium composed of both France-based and Japan-based teams. The French component and the Japanese components of the collaborative project can involve more than one team respectively and therefore be consortia of teams. The projects must be co-coordinated by 2 co-coordinators, one Japan-based and one France-based. Each team points out a scientific manager in the frame of the project (who can be different of the hierarchical head of the team). Teams from the International Agency for Cancer Research (IARC) are eligible for funding in specific conditions, The applicants are subjected to eligibility criteria of their respective funding agency: INCa for France-based teams and AMED for Japan based-teams.
  • In summary, non-compliance with the eligibility rules detailed below will lead to the rejection of the entire proposal without further review:
    • Each unique project must involve a minimum of two (2) teams, one France-based and one Japan-based.
    • Only collaborative France-Japan projects will be funded.
    • Applications will be submitted by each co-coordinator. The Francebased co-coordinator will submit the project to INCa (which is strictly identical to the project submitted to AMED) and the Japan-based cocoordinator will submit the same project to AMED. The teams and each of the individual project partners (representing research teams) will be funded by the funding organization from their country (INCa for French teams and AMED for Japanese teams) and are therefore subject to respective eligibility rules.
    • Each consortium is represented by 2 co-coordinators responsible for the scientific management and for all the communications with the respective funding organization.
    • Partners not eligible for funding by INCa or AMED (e.g. based outside Japan and France or not fundable according to the regulations of AMED or INCa) may participate in projects as long as they secure their own funding for the project.
• France-based and Japan-based co-coordination
  • Each project is represented and co-coordinated by 2 co-coordinators: one France-based and one Japan-based responsible for the coordination of the French and Japanese teams respectively. In addition to their scientific and technical roles, they are responsible for the coordination of the project and for implementing the collaboration between the partners in the project, the production of the required documents (scientific reports), the meetings, progresses and results communication. The co-coordinators are the contact point for all the communications with the respective funding organizations. The Francebased co-coordinator will submit the co-developed application to INCa and the Japan-based co-coordinator will submit the same application to AMED.
  • The co-coordinators are subjected to eligibility criteria of their respective funding agency: INCa for France-based teams and AMED for Japan based-teams.

For more information, visit French National Cancer Institute.